Date A Live II

Expecting Date A Live II to improve was probably too much. It’s obvious from the pictures that something here is going to go wrong. We already have enough goofy characters. We don’t need more. We want to see more of Tohka, Yoshino, Tokisaki and Reinne – all entertaining personalities that tend to light up any scene they’re in. Tokisaki wasn’t really defeated in the previous season, so there’s clearly more to do with her. Why add more?

The additions are not that bad, but they’re bad in a very predictable way. It starts with the twins. The problem they introduce is different enough, but just look at them. The character design is sexy, but it’s more sexy than pretty. The previous Spirits’ design tried to tell us more about their character than to make them sexually appealing. Tokisaki is the only one with an actual sexy design, but in this case it’s part of her character.

It’s not like they’re completely empty shells. They are pretty entertaining in the scenes they’re in, and the conflict they’re in could lead to a very interesting relationship. You quickly forget that they’re dressed for an S&M club because their antics come from the same creative mind that gave us Yoshino’s wide-eyed fear and Tokisaki’s creepiness. Their fights are just as fun as anything in the previous season.

Sadly, there is not enough of that. We spend two episodes with the twins and some embarrassing fanservice. The previous season never had that amount. What happens in these episodes feels like it came from those shows that just want to push the envelope. It’s not funny and it’s out of place. The show still rolls along mostly without ecchi – you’d expect the camera to linger on Reinne when she appears in a bikini, but you barely have time to register there’s a teddy bear between her breasts. What was the point of those awkward scenes in the bedrooms?

Miku is a little better. There is something slightly off-putting in her design. Maybe it’s because she looks like Coco from Mermaid Melody with a new paint job. Still, her character is interesting and she provides a good conflict. Once you get over the over-sexualizing, the new Spirits offer problems that are different enough than the previous to show the creators haven’t run of new ideas.

In fact, they have too many ideas. We have a new antagonist who is interesting until the climax. Jessica appears, which could help add some depth to the whole wing of the AST. Ellen, the Bad Guy’s sidekick occasionally looks like there is an interesting personality underneath that cool hair. There is even a school festival that slides smoothly to the plot instead of feeling tokenistic.

It doesn’t build to anything. The climax is the real weak point of the series.. The previous climax was also messy, but Tokisaki lead it. It felt unhinged, out of control and unique to the series. Somewhere around the eight episode, the series becomes one extended action scene Shido mows down a lot of mooks, but the real causalties are the personalities.

Some characters are already halfway to gone before the finale. Kotori and Yoshino are barely there, which makes no sense. The few times Yoshino appears, struggling with understanding a soap opera are what made the original so fun. The climax finally kills them all. Kotori and Yoshino go AWOL. The twins are pushed to the back, almost as if they were never there. Jessica is thrown into the action scene with a conclusion that deserved a much better build-up. Origami is still an unnecessary part of the harem. Miku becomes a tsundere. Bad Guy reveals he’s bad because he’s bad and Mana is still just as useless.

Tohka is the only one who’s given some room to do things. Her clinginess to Shido is pretty annoying, but there’s enough of the fish-out-of-water antics that make her fun. She eventually becomes the center. If so, why introduce the new Spirits, if they’re just pushed to the back in the end?

Why is this so generic? What happened to the bravery? The series used to flinch at violence, to question whether it’s a legitimate method to solve problems. It was its whole charm. It forced the hero to interact with the ‘bad guys’. Violence is frowned upon. Now Shido mows down faceless soldiers like he’s Sylvester Stallone in a generic building. There aren’t even cool visuals to accompany it. He just swings his sword and people fall down.

Speaking of Shido, he hasn’t changed. He’s still boring and has no charisma. He’s still given a lot of situations that can be great for character development, and he does nothing with it. How can you even write such a dull character? Asimov isn’t exactly the master of creating human beings, but he gives the game pieces (In Asimov, there are no characters, just game pieces) some traits that make them recognizable. Shido is nothing but a plot-mover. The story is clearly about him. He’s the star of the climax this time, so make him worthwhile. Alas, everything he does is just for convenience.

It’s not a problem of length. 10 episodes is a little too short, but there was enough time that was better spent on other things. We didn’t need all these fanservice and the finale could have been a bit more exciting than just killing faceless people. There is still some fuel in this franchise. Most of the new ideas that were introduced are pretty good. The new Spirits are a worthwhile addition. This season does even less with everything, and the result is just a shopping list of cool ideas. The series doesn’t deserve this as a swan song, but I worry that feature developments will stay, will, undeveloped.